`Nigeria stocks rebounded by about 1.09 percent on Wednesday, March 18 after steep falls on Tuesday, aided by MTNN Plc.
MTNN increased most, from N95 to N104.5, adding N9.5 or 10percent, followed by GTBank which moved from N19.6 to N20.9, after adding N1.3 or 6.63percent.
Nestle Nigeria Plc led the decliners’ league after it moving from N915.3 to N880, losing N35.3 or 3.86percent, and Okomu Oil Palm Plc which decreased from N60 to N55.05, shedding N4.95 or 8.25percent.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) increased from 22,543.07points to 22,789.64 points. Week-to-date (WtD), the market increased by 0.25percent; month-to-date (MtD) it has decreased by 13.07percent, while the year-to-date (Ytd) return is still in negative of 15.10percent.
Equity dealers in 7,247 deals exchanged 671,519,295 units valued at N10.578billion. GTBank, Zenith, Access, FBNH, and Stanbic IBTC were highly traded stocks.
Brent crude was trading down $1.39, or nearly 5percent, at $27.34 a barrel, after dropping to $27.31, its lowest since early 2016.
“The oil demand collapse from the spreading coronavirus looks increasingly sharp,” Goldman Sachs said in a note forecasting a fall in the price of Brent to as low as $20 in the second quarter, a level not seen since early 2002.
Nigeria, an oil-producing country has confirmed five new cases of the coronavirus in four weeks but has not recorded any death.
The latest cases bring the total confirmed cases so far to eight. All 5 cases had a travel history to the UK and USA according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The agency also urged Nigerians to remain calm as public health response activities are intensified across the country. Nigeria has placed travel restrictions to 13 countries.
The countries include China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, the United States of America, Norway, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland. All travellers returning from these countries prior to the restriction will be in supervised self-isolation, monitored by Nigeria Center for disease control (NCDC) and Port Health Services.
